Score: 92Score Breakdown
The Ultimate Nintendo Experience
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is by far the biggest game to hit the Wii, in every sense of the phrase. No other title has been so hotly anticipated. No other title has had such phenomenal sales (in the first week, Brawl sold at a rate of 120 units per minute). And no other title has managed to cram such a ridiculous amount of content onto a single disk. Not on the Wii. Possibly not on any system.
The 2D fighting game features almost three dozen characters from seventeen of Nintendo’s most famous and beloved series. Fifteen of these characters are brand-new to the Brawl installment, such as Captain Olimar from Pikmin and Pit from Kid Icarus. For the first time in the series, Brawl also includes second-party characters like Sonic and Solid Snake (see "Characters" below).
The frantic four-player battles are waged on forty-one maps, most of which are new.
The maps in the previous games were good, but Nintendo has outdone themselves in this latest installment. They have a wide variety of truly innovative stages (see "Levels" below).The game features an almost overwhelming amount of game-play and competitive modes and options. Almost is a key word here – Brawl introduces a cartoony looking menu interface that uses different sized and colored icons to guide players to the most commonly-used modes and features.
The deeper you delve into the different sub-menus, the more you realize just how much stuff is here. In the Vault players can view hundreds of Trophies and Stickers that they collected in the game, each of which shows a character or item from Nintendo’s history. Also in the Vault is a section called Masterpieces, which is a collection of demos of the original Nintendo games that the Brawl characters appeared in, such as the original Donkey Kong. The Chronicle section is a massive library showing all of Nintendo’s systems and the notable games that each system had. This is likely more than you would ever care to know, but for the die-hard Nintendo fan, this is the ultimate anthology.
The Vault also contains one of Brawl's coolest new features, the map editor. Making your own maps has long been a part of strategy and shooting games, but the feature is something new to fighters. The Stage Builder is easy to use, with a very simple and intuitive editing interface. Players won’t have a lot of options for their backgrounds and tilesets, but the opportunities this opens up are vast.
The Data section continues the collection, with a Videos section showing trailers and in-game scenes from Brawl. It also has Audio Test, where players can listen to the thousands of well-crafted sound effects used in the game and the dozens of classic and original soundtracks. The creators of Brawl went to the next step with the sound in this version, recruiting over two dozen composers to create new mixes of classic Nintendo songs.
These songs are not just shelved into the Audio Test, they can be played during matches as well. My Music allow
s players to pick which songs they will listen to while they fight. Each level has four potential soundtracks, and players can raise or lower the likelihood that different songs will be played. Once you have the necessary songs unlocked, I suggest bumping up Wild Pokemon Battle for Pokemon Stadium 2 and Unfounded Revenge for New Pork City.The music itself isn’t the only thing updated: both the audio and visual quality in Brawl are greatly improved. The sound effects of the players’ attacks are satisfying, and the attention to detail in visual effects like fire and water is better than anything seen yet on the system. The visual upgrades are especially noticeable in the sweeping background scenes of Final Destination.
Multiplayer in Brawl has all of the same options as in previous titles, with a few additions and changes. For Special Brawls, players can now combine multiple special scenarios, such as low-gravity, fast-pace and giant players. Brawl also introduces a trade-off option for those times when you have five players and only three controllers. And most notably, Brawl finally introduces online play with friends and random matches.
Solo play in Brawl has also received some changes and additions. Classic mode has added a four-player Brawl and the Master Hand seems stronger. Event mode has sixty-two new events, some of which are designed for co-op. Stadium still has Break the Targets and Multi-Man Brawl, and the Home-run Contest now has a cage to keep the Sandbag from falling off prematurely.
But the biggest news from Solo play is The Subspace Emissary, a story-driven cam
paign that replaces the lame Adventure Mode from Melee. The side-scrolling adventure has dozens of levels, can be played with a friend, and takes a good seven or eight hours to complete. The game compiles all thirty-five playable characters and a slew of brand-new enemies (called the Subspace Army) into a retro-style hack-and-slash platformer. This is easily one of Brawl’s biggest draws, having a credible solo campaign is something no other Smash game has done.
If you’re wondering why I haven’t talked about the actual game-play yet, it’s because there isn’t much need to. The game uses the same tried-and-true formula of knock-out based four-player fights that has made it such a phenomenon. Matches seem to have been slowed down since Melee, which means you’ll be using more deliberate attacks, as opposed to the rapid thrash-fests before. The best thing about Brawl’s game-play is that the characters are extremely balanced: Yoshi and Kirby actually feel useful, and Marth has been cut down to size. Sorry Shiek and Fox users, you won’t be dominating this time around.
The biggest chan
ge to the game-play comes in the form of powerful new items, primarily the Smash Ball. Breaking it allows a player to unleash their overwhelmingly powerful Final Smash. When a Smash Ball appears on screen, all players immediately start scrambling for it, knocking each other out of the way in the race to obtain the ultimate item. This item is so unbelievably strong that with high item-usage it almost ruins the entire combat system, by nearly negating the need for traditional attacks. If you want purely skill-based matches you’ll want to turn off the Smash Ball. (see Items below for info on other new items)
The game can be played with GameCube controllers, the Wii-mote or the Classic Controller. Playing on the GameCube controllers is the same as in Melee, but I recommend using the Wii-mote. It took an hour or two to get used to, but once I had the hang of it fighting felt more natural than ever. And you get some extra sound effects from the Wii-mote’s little speakers.
A few minor issues keep Brawl from perfection. The carefully-designed, character
-specific “Break the Targets” levels have been replaced by five cookie-cutter stages. Beating these stages is required to unlock content, but playing the same level over and over again is boring and tedious. Also, the time limits of the Masterpiece game demos are frustratingly short. Forty seconds for F-Zero didn’t even allow me to finish a single race – is Nintendo afraid that with a three minute demo I won’t want to buy the full game? And finally, load times on Brawl are annoyingly longer than in previous entries.
But these miniscule problems do little to dim the shining beacon of Nintendo glory that is Super Smash Bros. Brawl. With awesome new characters, innovative new levels, and valuable additions like online play, the stage builder and a full-fledged single-player campaign, Brawl is one hell of a game.
Solo play in Brawl has also received some changes and additions. Classic mode has added a four-player Brawl and the Master Hand seems stronger. Event mode has sixty-two new events, some of which are designed for co-op. Stadium still has Break the Targets and Multi-Man Brawl, and the Home-run Contest now has a cage to keep the Sandbag from falling off prematurely.
But the biggest news from Solo play is The Subspace Emissary, a story-driven cam
paign that replaces the lame Adventure Mode from Melee. The side-scrolling adventure has dozens of levels, can be played with a friend, and takes a good seven or eight hours to complete. The game compiles all thirty-five playable characters and a slew of brand-new enemies (called the Subspace Army) into a retro-style hack-and-slash platformer. This is easily one of Brawl’s biggest draws, having a credible solo campaign is something no other Smash game has done.If you’re wondering why I haven’t talked about the actual game-play yet, it’s because there isn’t much need to. The game uses the same tried-and-true formula of knock-out based four-player fights that has made it such a phenomenon. Matches seem to have been slowed down since Melee, which means you’ll be using more deliberate attacks, as opposed to the rapid thrash-fests before. The best thing about Brawl’s game-play is that the characters are extremely balanced: Yoshi and Kirby actually feel useful, and Marth has been cut down to size. Sorry Shiek and Fox users, you won’t be dominating this time around.
The biggest chan
ge to the game-play comes in the form of powerful new items, primarily the Smash Ball. Breaking it allows a player to unleash their overwhelmingly powerful Final Smash. When a Smash Ball appears on screen, all players immediately start scrambling for it, knocking each other out of the way in the race to obtain the ultimate item. This item is so unbelievably strong that with high item-usage it almost ruins the entire combat system, by nearly negating the need for traditional attacks. If you want purely skill-based matches you’ll want to turn off the Smash Ball. (see Items below for info on other new items)The game can be played with GameCube controllers, the Wii-mote or the Classic Controller. Playing on the GameCube controllers is the same as in Melee, but I recommend using the Wii-mote. It took an hour or two to get used to, but once I had the hang of it fighting felt more natural than ever. And you get some extra sound effects from the Wii-mote’s little speakers.
A few minor issues keep Brawl from perfection. The carefully-designed, character
-specific “Break the Targets” levels have been replaced by five cookie-cutter stages. Beating these stages is required to unlock content, but playing the same level over and over again is boring and tedious. Also, the time limits of the Masterpiece game demos are frustratingly short. Forty seconds for F-Zero didn’t even allow me to finish a single race – is Nintendo afraid that with a three minute demo I won’t want to buy the full game? And finally, load times on Brawl are annoyingly longer than in previous entries.But these miniscule problems do little to dim the shining beacon of Nintendo glory that is Super Smash Bros. Brawl. With awesome new characters, innovative new levels, and valuable additions like online play, the stage builder and a full-fledged single-player campaign, Brawl is one hell of a game.
Characters:
Captain Olimar: Olimar relies on commanding little groups of Pikmin to fight. He can throw his Pikmin at enemies, which stick to them and cause damage over time. If he falls, Olim
ar can throw a chain of Pikmin to catch the edge and pull him up. Olimar’s Final Smash is to call on his spaceship, which he crashes into the stage with devastating effect.Pokemon Trainer: When choosing Pokemon Trainer, you’re actually choosing to play as a team of Pokemon. Just like Zelda can be Sheik, you can alternate between Squirtle, Ivysaur and Charizard at any point in the fight. Use Squirtle for fast strikes and his knock-back moves and Ivysaur for some powerful vertical attacks and ranged moves. Charizard is the powerful giant of the three, and can glide back to levels with his wings.
Solid Snake: The hero of the Metal Gear games comes equipped with a lot of weaponry. He can throw grenades, shoot missiles and launch mortars, making him a great ranged character. He can also plant landmines around the level. Snake’s Final Smash is almost unfairly powerful—he moves to the cockpit of a gunship and launches missiles at his enemies.
Levels:
Pictochat: The Pictochat level is one of the most unpredictable in the game. Play
ers start on a simple block, but as they fight an invisible hand draws objects and hazards on the stage. Touching the drawn-in flames or spikes will hurt, and being hit by the cart will send you flying.. The different objects and walls being drawn in ensure that no two fights on this stage will be the same.
WarioWare, Inc.: This is probably the most innovative level in Brawl. About once a minute the players are brought out of the main stage to a mini-game-like area, where they are given a prompt, such as “Stay Dry,” “Pop-it!” or “Jump!” If the player avoids the rain, pops the balloon or jumps they will be rewarded with a beneficial item, such as an invincibility star, upon returning to the main stage.
Castle Siege: This level is three stages in one. Players will start on castle battlements, where they will have to dodge incoming catapult attacks. After the battlements break players will be dropped into an underground hall, complete with destructible statues. The final stage is on a chunk of rock inside of a massive lava chamber.
Pictochat: The Pictochat level is one of the most unpredictable in the game. Play
ers start on a simple block, but as they fight an invisible hand draws objects and hazards on the stage. Touching the drawn-in flames or spikes will hurt, and being hit by the cart will send you flying.. The different objects and walls being drawn in ensure that no two fights on this stage will be the same.WarioWare, Inc.: This is probably the most innovative level in Brawl. About once a minute the players are brought out of the main stage to a mini-game-like area, where they are given a prompt, such as “Stay Dry,” “Pop-it!” or “Jump!” If the player avoids the rain, pops the balloon or jumps they will be rewarded with a beneficial item, such as an invincibility star, upon returning to the main stage.
Castle Siege: This level is three stages in one. Players will start on castle battlements, where they will have to dodge incoming catapult attacks. After the battlements break players will be dropped into an underground hall, complete with destructible statues. The final stage is on a chunk of rock inside of a massive lava chamber.
Items:
Assist Trophy: The Assist Trophy is another powerful new item. It works like the
Pokeball, releasing a random ally who helps you for a short time. But instead of these allies being Pokemon, they will be characters from Nintendo’s vast past, like Lynn from Fire Emblem or Fox’s enemy Andross.
Dragoon: Like the Smash Ball and Assist Trophy, this is an item people will fight fiercely over, but this one is harder to obtain. The player must collect three parts of the Dragoon, which fall separately. Once all three are collected a large reticule will appear, allowing the player to aim where the Dragoon starship will fly. If it flies close enough to an enemy player to hit them, it will send them rocketing off the screen.
Assist Trophy: The Assist Trophy is another powerful new item. It works like the
Pokeball, releasing a random ally who helps you for a short time. But instead of these allies being Pokemon, they will be characters from Nintendo’s vast past, like Lynn from Fire Emblem or Fox’s enemy Andross.Dragoon: Like the Smash Ball and Assist Trophy, this is an item people will fight fiercely over, but this one is harder to obtain. The player must collect three parts of the Dragoon, which fall separately. Once all three are collected a large reticule will appear, allowing the player to aim where the Dragoon starship will fly. If it flies close enough to an enemy player to hit them, it will send them rocketing off the screen.
